craft

craft · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Germanic*krafjaną
2. Proto-Germanic*kraftuz
3. Proto-West Germanic*kraftu
4. Old Englishcræft
5. Middle Englishcraft
6. English todaycraft

Inherited from Middle English craft (“strength, skill”), from Old English cræft (“strength, skill”), from Proto-West Germanic *kraftu, from Proto-Germanic *kraftuz (“strength, power”); further origin obscure. Cognate with Dutch kracht (“strength, power, force”), German Kraft (“strength, power, force, energy, employee”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish kraft (“strength, power, force”), Faroese and Icelandic kraftur (“strength”).

Craft · proper noun²

* As an English surname, from the noun craft. * Also as an English surname, from Croft in Leicestershire. * As a German, Jewish, Danish, and Swedish surname, Americanized from Kraft.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• 9th century Strength; power; might; force .
• 9th century Ability, skillfulness, especially skill in making plans and carrying them into execution; dexterity in managing affairs, adroitness, practical cunning; ingenuity in constructing, dexterity .
• 13th century Cunning, art, skill, or dexterity applied to bad purposes; artifice; guile; subtlety; shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception .
• 13th century Occult art, magic .
• c. 1000 A work or product of art .
• c. 1000 Handmade items, especially domestic or decorative objects; handicrafts .
• 13th century A device, a means; a magical device, spell or enchantment .
• 13th century Learning of the schools, scholarship; a branch of learning or knowledge, a science, especially one of the ‘seven liberal arts’ of the medieval universities .